Erma Bombeck

Last updated • 10 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Erma Bombeck
Erma Bombeck.jpg
Erma Bombeck
BornErma Louise Fiste
(1927-02-21)February 21, 1927
Bellbrook, Ohio, U.S.
DiedApril 22, 1996(1996-04-22) (aged 69)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
OccupationHumorist, syndicated columnist, writer
Education University of Dayton
Years active1965–1996
SpouseBill Bombeck (m. 1949)
Children3 [1]

Erma Louise Bombeck ( née Fiste; February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996) was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for her newspaper humor column describing suburban home life, syndicated from 1965 to 1996. Fifteen books of her humor have been published, most became bestsellers.

Contents

Between 1965 and April 17, 1996 – five days before her death – Bombeck wrote over four thousand newspaper columns, using broad and sometimes eloquent humor, chronicling the ordinary life of a Midwestern suburban housewife. [2] [3] [4] By the 1970s, her columns were read semi-weekly by 30 million readers of the nine hundred newspapers in the United States and Canada. [5] Her work stands as a humorous chronicle of middle-class life in America after World War II, among the generation of parents who produced the Baby Boomers.

Early life

Erma Fiste was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, to a working-class family, and was raised in Dayton. Her parents were Erma ( née Haines) and Cassius Edwin Fiste, who was the city crane operator. [6] Young Erma lived with her elder paternal half-sister, Thelma. She began elementary school one year earlier than usual for her age, in 1932, and became an excellent student and an avid reader. She particularly enjoyed the popular humor writers of the time. After Erma's father died in 1936, she moved, with her mother, into her grandmother's home. Her mother remarried in 1938, to Albert Harris (a moving van owner). Erma practiced tap dance and singing, and worked for a local radio station for a children's revue for eight years.[ citation needed ]

Formative years

Erma entered Emerson Junior High School in 1940, and began writing a humorous column for its newspaper, The Owl. In 1942, she entered Parker (now Patterson) Vocational High School, where she wrote a serious column, mixing in bits of humor. That same year she began work at the Dayton Herald as a copygirl, sharing her full-time assignment with a girlfriend. In 1944, for her first journalistic work, she interviewed Shirley Temple, who visited Dayton, and the interview became a newspaper feature. [7]

She completed high school in 1944 and sought to earn a college scholarship fund; for a year she worked as a typist and stenographer, for the Dayton Herald and several other companies, and also did minor journalistic assignments (obituaries, etc.) for the Dayton Herald. Using the money she earned, Erma enrolled in Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, in 1946. However, she failed most of her literary assignments and was rejected for the university newspaper. She left after one semester when her funds ran out.

Erma later enrolled in the University of Dayton, a Catholic college. She lived in her family home and worked at Rike's, a department store, where she wrote humorous material for the company newsletter. In addition, she worked two part-time jobs – as a termite control accountant at an advertising agency[ clarification needed ] and as a public-relations person at the local YMCA. [8] While she was in college, her English professor, Bro. Tom Price, commented to Erma about her great prospects as a writer, and she began to write for the university student publication, The Exponent. She graduated in 1949 with a degree in English, and became a lifelong active contact for the university — helping financially and participating personally — and became a lifetime trustee of the institution in 1987. In 1949, she converted to Catholicism, from the United Brethren church, and married Bill Bombeck, a former fellow student of the University of Dayton, who was a veteran of the World War II Korean front. His subsequent profession was that of educator and school supervisor. Bombeck remained active in the church for the rest of her life.[ citation needed ]

Housewife column

Housewife (1954–1964)

Bombeck's house in Centerville, Ohio, now a historic site Erma Bombeck House.jpg
Bombeck's house in Centerville, Ohio, now a historic site

The Bombecks were told by doctors that having a child was improbable, so they adopted a girl, Betsy, in 1953. Bombeck decided to become a full-time housewife and relinquished her career as a journalist. During 1954, Bombeck nevertheless wrote a series of humorous columns in the Dayton Shopping News.

Despite the former difficult diagnoses, Bombeck gave birth to her first son, Andrew, in 1956 and had her second son, Matthew, in 1958. The Bombeck family moved in 1959 to Centerville, Ohio, into a tract housing development, and were neighbors of Phil Donahue. [9] The Bombeck home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. [9]

"At Wit's End" (1965)

Bombeck resumed her writing career for the local Kettering-Oakwood Times in 1964, with weekly columns that yielded $3 each. She wrote in her small bedroom. The following year the Dayton Journal Herald requested new humorous columns as well, and Bombeck agreed to write two weekly 450-word columns for $50. After three weeks, the articles went into national syndication through the Newsday Newspaper Syndicate, into 36 major U.S. newspapers, with three weekly columns under the title "At Wit's End".

Bombeck quickly became a popular humorist nationwide. Beginning in 1966, she began doing lectures in the various cities where her columns appeared. In 1967, her newspaper columns were compiled and published by Doubleday, under the title At Wit's End. And after a humorous appearance on Arthur Godfrey's radio show, she became a regular radio guest on the show.

Diversified production

Success (1970s)

Aaron Priest, a Doubleday representative, became Bombeck's agent. By 1969, five hundred U.S. newspapers featured her "At Wit's End" columns, and she was also writing for Good Housekeeping , Reader's Digest , Family Circle , Redbook , McCall's , and Teen magazines. Bombeck and her family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, to a lavish hacienda on a hilltop in Paradise Valley.

By 1978, nine hundred U.S. newspapers were publishing Bombeck's column.

McGraw-Hill (1976)

In 1976, McGraw-Hill published Bombeck's The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank, which became a best-seller. In 1978, Bombeck arranged both a million-dollar contract for her fifth book, If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? and a 700,000-copy advance for her subsequent book, Aunt Erma's Cope Book (1979).

Television

At the invitation of television producer Bob Shanks, Bombeck participated in ABC's Good Morning America from 1975 until 1986. She began doing brief commentaries, which were recorded in Phoenix, and eventually did both gag segments and serious interviews.

For several years, Bombeck was occupied with multiple writing and TV projects. In 1978, she attempted a television pilot of The Grass Is Always Greener on CBS. In 1981, [10] Bombeck wrote and produced her own show, the also unsuccessful Maggie, for ABC. It aired for just four months (eight episodes) to poor reviews. Bombeck was quickly becoming overworked, returning from Los Angeles to Phoenix only during weekends. Bombeck was offered a second sitcom attempt but she declined.

Equal Rights Amendment (1978)

In 1978, Bombeck was involved in the Presidential Advisory Committee for Women, particularly for the final implementation of the Equal Rights Amendment, with the ERA America organization's support. Bombeck was strongly criticized for this by conservative figures, and some U.S. stores reacted by removing her books. [11] [ citation needed ] In 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment was proposed by the United States Congress to the states. Congress specified a seven-year period for ratification. Under Article V of the United States Constitution, ratification by at least three-fourths of the states is necessary, but at the end of the seven-year period, only 35 states had ratified, three less than the requirement. Of the 35 states that ratified the proposed amendment, five rescinded their ratifications prior to the deadline. Bombeck expressed dismay over this development.[ citation needed ].

Great popularity (1980s)

By 1985, Bombeck's three weekly columns were being published by 900 newspapers in the United States and Canada, and were also being anthologized into a series of best-selling books. She was also making twice-weekly Good Morning America appearances. Bombeck belonged to the American Academy of Humor Columnists, along with other famous personalities. During the 1980s, Bombeck's annual earnings ranged from $500,000 to $1 million a year.

She was the grand marshal for the 97th Tournament of Roses Parade held on January 1, 1986. The parade theme was "A Celebration of Laughter". [12]

Death

Bombeck was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease (an incurable and untreatable genetic condition) when she was twenty years old. She survived breast cancer and a mastectomy and kept secret the fact that she had kidney disease, enduring daily dialysis. She went public with her condition in 1993. After she spent years on a waiting list for a transplant, one kidney had to be removed, and the remaining one ceased to function. On April 3, 1996, she received a kidney transplant. She died on April 22, 1996, aged sixty-nine, from complications of the operation. [4] Her remains are interred in the Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio. She was survived by her husband, Bill Bombeck (1927–2018), and their three children. [13]

Books

Legacy

The Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop started in 2000 at the University of Dayton as a one-time event to commemorate the Bombeck family's gift of her papers to the university. The event proved so popular that it has been held every other year since then. The two-day, three-night workshop includes keynote speakers and breakout sessions on the topics of humor writing, human-interest writing, the publishing process, marketing for authors, and blogging, among other areas. Past keynote speakers have included Art Buchwald, Nancy Cartwright, Dave Barry, Garrison Keillor, Mike Peters, Bil Keane and Phil Donahue. More than 350 writers from around the country attend each workshop, which is held on the University of Dayton campus.

In 2004, University of Dayton alumnus Ralph Hamberg and his wife, Cindy, gave a $100,000 gift to start an endowment fund for the workshop, in memory of her cousin, Tom Price, a University of Dayton English professor who told Bombeck, "You can write!" [14] The endowment helps keep the workshop affordable for writers. In addition, the University of Dayton's Alumni Association underwrites the cost of scholarships that allow University of Dayton students to attend for free.

The workshop has spawned a blog, Humorwriters.org; [15] a documentary produced by ThinkTV and distributed nationally through American Public Television; an international writing competition hosted by the Washington-Centerville Public Library; an Ohio historical marker on the University of Dayton's campus; a monthly e-newsletter; a Facebook page; a Twitter feed; and an active online discussion group.[ citation needed ]

In 2006, the workshop created the world's longest Mad Lib. [16] In 2010, CBS Sunday Morning With Charles Osgood aired a Mother's Day tribute to Bombeck, using the workshop as a backdrop. [17] In 2013, AAA Journeys magazine traced Dayton's literary heritage and pointed to the University of Dayton's efforts to keep Bombeck's legacy alive through a workshop in her name. [18] In 2014, Parade magazine featured a series of pieces about the workshop and Bombeck's enduring appeal. [19]

A Chinese language translation of one of her works about her stepfather Albert Harris, "Father's Love" ( 父亲 的 爱 ), is included as one of the sixty oral reading passages in China's Putonghua Proficiency Test. [20]

Awards and honors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humorist</span> Intellectual who uses humor in writing or public speaking

A humorist is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking. A raconteur is one who tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Donahue</span> American talk show host (1935–2024)

Phillip John Donahue was an American media personality, writer, film producer, and the creator and host of The Phil Donahue Show. The television program, later known simply as Donahue, was the first popular talk show to feature a format that included audience participation. The show had a 29-year run on national television that began in Dayton, Ohio, in 1967 and ended in New York City in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bil Keane</span> American cartoonist (1922–2011)

William Aloysius Keane was an American cartoonist best known for the newspaper comic strip The Family Circus. He began it in 1960 and his son Jeff Keane continues to produce it.

<i>Dayton Daily News</i> Newspaper in Dayton, Ohio

The Dayton Daily News (DDN) is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major operating subsidiaries are Cox Communications, Cox Automotive, and Ohio Newspapers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Buchwald</span> American humorist

Arthur Buchwald was an American humorist best known for his column in The Washington Post. At the height of his popularity, it was published nationwide as a syndicated column in more than 500 newspapers. His column focused on political satire and commentary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calvin Trillin</span> American humorist and novelist (born 1935)

Calvin Marshall Trillin is an American journalist, humorist, food writer, poet, memoirist and novelist. He is a winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor (2012) and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2008).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Weingarten</span> American journalist

Gene Norman Weingarten is an American journalist, and former syndicated humor columnist for The Washington Post. He is the only two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. Weingarten is known for both his serious and humorous work. Through September 2021, Weingarten's column, "Below the Beltway," was published weekly in The Washington Post magazine and syndicated nationally by The Washington Post Writers Group. Weingarten also writes Barney & Clyde, a comic strip with illustrations by David Clark.

Maximilian Shulman was an American writer and humorist best known for his television and short story character Dobie Gillis, as well as for best-selling novels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liz Carpenter</span> American writer (1920–2010)

Mary Elizabeth Sutherland Carpenter was a writer, feminist, reporter, media advisor, speechwriter, political humorist, and public relations expert. As the first woman executive assistant to Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson from 1961 to 1963, and then as press secretary for First Lady Lady Bird Johnson from 1963 to 1969, Carpenter was a prominent member of the Johnson White House and also a close personal friend of the Johnsons.

The Kettering-Oakwood Times was a weekly suburban newspaper last owned by Civitas Media of Davidson, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum</span> Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio

Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum, located at 118 Woodland Avenue, Dayton, Ohio, is one of the oldest garden cemeteries in the United States.

Maggie Van Ostrand is an American humorist best known for her newspaper column which appears in the United States, Mexico and Canada. She is also known within the entertainment industry for ghostwriting satire and stand-up comedy, and ghosting for television sitcoms.

Karyl Geld Miller is an American Emmy Award-winning screenwriter and political cartoonist and commentator. Her Emmy was for Best Writing for the TV special Lily, starring Lily Tomlin and featuring Richard Pryor (1974). That script and the script for the previous years' Tomlin special were both nominated for the Best Written Variety Script award by the Writers Guild of America. "Lily" also won the Best Writing award from The American Academy of Humor, and Rolling Stone Magazine gave the show its TV Show of the Year award. Miller's sitcom writing and producing credits are extensive. See MillerReport.com

Maggie is an American sitcom broadcast on ABC from October 24, 1981, to May 21, 1982.

Bette Rogge was an American radio and television host, talk show host and journalist. She was the "Grand Dame" of Dayton area broadcasting."

Adeline Helen Daley was one of the first female sportswriters, covering baseball for the San Francisco Call-Bulletin. She later went on to become a nationally syndicated humor columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle for two decades. Her writing was praised as mixing "gentle humor with sly wit and an occasional sharp needle."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pam Sherman</span> American attorney, actress, and writer

Pamela L. Sherman is an American attorney, actress, and writer based in Pittsford, New York. In 1998, her story was featured in People Magazine after quitting her job as a lawyer to pursue a career in acting She has performed in theater, film, and television, including, NBC's Homicide: Life on the Streets, Unsolved Mysteries, and the long-running play, Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center. Sherman published The Suburban Outlaw: Tales from the EDGE in 2009 which was recognized as a Best Seller in the Amazon's Woman & Business category.

Erma or ERMA may refer to:

Phyllis Marie Battelle Van Horn was an American journalist, a columnist for the International News Service. In 1957 she was described as "one of the most widely read columnists in America."

References

  1. ↑ "Erma Bombeck's son third in family to receive kidney transplant". Archived from the original on 2017-09-11. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  2. ↑ McCarty, Mary (January 13, 2018). "Bill Bombeck, husband of famed Dayton writer, dies at 90". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  3. ↑ Full Biography of Dayton University - ErmaMuseum.org Archived 2008-03-29 at the Wayback Machine original sources from Erma Bombeck: Writer and Humorist by Lynn Hutner Colwell
  4. 1 2 Oliver, Myrna (April 23, 1996). "Erma Bombeck, Columnist, Dies After Transplant; Writers: The homemaker-turned-humor author and speaker succumbs to complications at age 69". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on 23 May 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  5. ↑ "Erma Bombeck Biography: A Life Of Humor". Essortment. Archived from the original on November 24, 2013. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  6. ↑ Peterson, Barbara Bennett (January 2001). "Bombeck, Erma (1927-1996), humorist and television personality". Bombeck, Erma (1927 - 1996), Humorists. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1603403. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  7. ↑ Felo, Dolly; Fiste, Erma (September 14, 1944). "Typical, That's Verdict of 2 Girls About Young Star". The Dayton Herald. p. 24. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  8. ↑ Erma Bombeck: A Life in Humor by Susan Edwards
  9. 1 2 Bombeck home on Nat’l Register of Historic Places Archived 2015-04-02 at the Wayback Machine WHIO, March 25, 2015
  10. ↑ "The "Maggie" Sitcom". Archived from the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  11. ↑ John Skow, "Erma in Bomburbia: Erma Bombeck", TIME magazine, 2 July 1984. https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/printout/0,8816,926677,00.html Last accessed 04-05-2022
  12. ↑ "Leading Lady: Humorist Erma Bombeck to Be Marshal of Rose Parade". Los Angeles Times, September 5, 1985.
  13. ↑ Frank, BrieAnna J. "Bill Bombeck, husband of iconic columnist, dies in Carefree". The Arizona Republic.
  14. ↑ "Erma Bombeck - Writers' Workshop". Erma Bombeck. Archived from the original on 2008-01-26. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
  15. ↑ http://www.humorwriters.org/ Archived 2008-01-26 at the Wayback Machine Humorwriters.org
  16. ↑ "World's Longest Mad Lib Online at Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop". URLwire. Archived from the original on 2018-06-01. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  17. ↑ "News : A Mothers Day Tribute : University of Dayton, Ohio". www.udayton.edu. Archived from the original on 2017-08-23. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  18. ↑ "News: Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop Featured in National Magazine: University of Dayton, Ohio". udayton.edu. Archived from the original on 2017-08-23. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  19. ↑ Berk, Dr. Nancy (7 April 2014). "Writers and Industry Professionals Remember Erma Bombeck". Archived from the original on 2017-08-23. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  20. ↑ 普通话水平测试实施纲要. Putonghua Shuiping Ceshi Gangyao. 北京. Beijing: 商务印书馆. The Commercial Press. 2004. pp. 352–353. ISBN   7-100-03996-7.
  21. ↑ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  22. ↑ "American Academy of Achievement fills Coronado with famous names" (PDF). Coronado Journal.
  23. ↑ Kogan, Rick (August 14, 1978). "Erma Bombeck's Popularity Continues". The Leaf-Chronicle reprinted from Chicago Sun-Times . Clarksville, Tennessee. p. 11. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.